Lady Gaga on Bullying, Bulimia – Born That Way

“Peace Smarts” – “The Bully Project” has joined “Born That Way” Lady Gaga’s non-profit to stop bullying, and bring in inclusion to lives of all children. When you’ve been there…Li­ke Lady Gaga and you can report back the devastatio­n of being bullied, having bulimia, and put it out there for the world to see… you are power, a role-model of the first order.

At Brentwood school hosting a forum for girls with Lady Gaga,  Mary J. Blige Maria Shriver began the dialogue, “Lady Gaga is an incredible example of being brave and having an authentic voice but that she wasn’t always that way.

“Lady Gaga replied, “I started having trouble with girls in middle school. I always knew that I wanted to do something very career oriented, and I always wanted to be a musician.That alone set me apart. I had such strong convictions and I was pretty delusional, in the same way that I am now … in wanting to change the world and end bullying in America and do whatever I can to promote peace around the world. It might sound kind of silly coming from someone in red lipstick with a bunch of jewels on my jacket…But that’s just the way I have always been.”

She spoke about equality, bullying, and individuality and how it felt being a left out and teased. Being excluded is painful,” My Italian father said, ‘Well good. You don’t want to be going out anyway’.  He wanted to lock me up. Sometimes your parents don’t always help because they just want you to be safe and be home.”

“It wasn’t until my senior year in high school when I finally confronted my main bully. She was always kind of mean to me, but I was always trying to be nice to her. One day Stefani (Lady GaGa) asked the bully,  ”Oh, hey, how’s that going?” only for the bully to reply, “Why are you talking to me?”  ”What the f*ck is your problem?” Lady Gaga blurted. Brentwood girl’s  laughed, cheered. “She couldn’t believe that I stood up for myself,” Then she continued what she said to the bully,  ’I am always nice to you. What is your problem with me? Maybe if you just tell me, we can figure this out.’ And she said something like ‘Well, I just don’t know why you’re so serious about music.’”

Lady Gaga laughed recalling the incident. Her whole teen life was shared with the audience. ”You don’t always know why people exclude you or aren’t nice to you..But I will tell you to this day it helped me so much to stand up to that person.”

Lines formed for a Q&A and a girl shared, “I struggle with body issues, and I know you’re so confident in the way you dress. And I am wondering how you deal with such issues?”

Lady Gaga shared her truth, “I used to throw up all the time in high school. So I’m not that confident. And maybe it’s easier for me to talk about it now because I don’t do it anymore. I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night. I used to come home and say, ‘Dad, why do you always give us this food? I need to be thin.’ And he’d say, ‘Eat your spaghetti.’”

“It’s really hard”, looking directly at the young girl, “But … you’ve got to talk to somebody about it. And the fact that you stood up in front of this whole room and said that is so incredible. Every video I’m in, every magazine cover, they stretch you; they make you perfect. It’s not real life. I’m gonna say this about girls…The dieting wars have got to stop. Everyone just knock it off. Because at the end of the day, it’s affecting kids your age. And it’s making girls sick. It made my voice bad, so I had to stop.

Describing to Maria Shiver, how she got through that struggle in her life, Lady Gaga said, “It was a specific set of circumstances, It made my voice bad. So I had to stop. acid on your vocal chords — it’s very bad. But for those of you who don’t sing, you maybe don’t have that excuse until it’s too late. It’s very dangerous.” She continued holding court with the audience. I’m encouraging you to know what you’re worth. And know that no matter who has more money in class, who has more stuff, who has a country house – nobody is worth more than anybody else.”

Lady Gaga is a force to be reckoned with. She’s on a mission, to help other kids, girls, boys to find a healthy self – image. To survive in a cruel  world and spread kindness, inclusion, love. Lady Gaga and Merrie Lynn Ross share  that noble mission.

You  Are Born That Way  is a beginning dialogue, and movement that will be facilitated with Harvard University… and non-profits,  like MerrieWay Community’s “Peace Smarts”.  A stellar curriculum that has impacted, 2-million students, teacher’s nationwide.

“The Bully Project” book, release date spring 2012.   www.merrieway.com